Power Co. split now
a reality

OUR CORRESPONDENT

JSEB office in Ranchi

Ranchi, Jan. 6: Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) was today divided into a holding company and three other subsidiaries to speed up reforms in the energy sector after the state government came out with a formal notification.

As per the notification issued by the state energy department in the evening, JSEB had finally been unbundled into four separate entities: holding company Jharkhand Vidyut Vikas Nigam Limited and three subsidiaries, Jharkhand Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, Jharkhand Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited and Jharkhand Vidyut Sancharan Nigam Limited.

As the holding company, Jharkhand Vidyut Vikas Nigam would own the shares of the newly formed subsidiaries.

Even as the monopolistic JSEB was unbundled today, large parts of the state was without power since the afternoon after one unit of Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Ltd.(TVNL) developed tube leaks and had to be shut down for emergency repairs.

With two units, TVNL is capable of generating 400 MW on an average. However with one unit shut down, TVNL generation stood at around 190 MW.

Figures released by Eastern Regional Load Despatch Centre indicated that generation in the state plummeted to 280 MW against a normal peak time demand of 1,050 MW.

While TVNL generated 190 MW, another 90 MW was generated by Patratu Thermal.

To meet the demand, the state drew some 350 MW from the central pool, though a power supply deficit of nearly 400 MW left Jharkhand Vidyut Vikas Nigam Limited with no option but to enforce phased blackouts throughout its command areas.

The power crisis is likely to continue tomorrow. TVNL general manager Ramavtar Sahu said they would be able to re-start the unit only after completing necessary repairs.

The state cabinet had on December 30 okayed the unbundling of the state-owned JSEB. However, it took the state government another week to come out with a formal notification.

However, sources in the government admitted it would take anything between four to six months for the four new companies to start functioning.

No office space has yet been allocated to the subsidiaries although Jharkhand Vidyut Vikas Nigam Limited will function from the JSEBís offices at Engineering Building in the HEC area at Dhurwa in Ranchi.

The notification, issued by principal energy secretary Vimal Kirti Singh, makes it clear that officers and employees of the former JSEB would have continuity of service and that their service conditions would be at par with their present terms.